Everything Is Illuminated is Jonathan Safran Foer's bestselling novel of a search for truthThe inspiration for the Liev Schreiber film, starring Elijah Wood

A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching Everything Is Illuminated is Jonathan Safran Foer's bestselling novel of a search for truthThe inspiration for the Liev Schreiber film, starring Elijah Wood

A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a "blind" old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive -- a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war.

'One of the most impressive novel debuts of recent years'Joyce Carol Oates, The Times Literary Supplement

'A first novel of startling originality'Jay McInerney, Observer

'Showy, smart. Made me laugh a lot'Susan Sontag, The Times Literary Supplement

'It seems hard to believe that such a young writer can have such a deep understanding of both comedy and tragedy'Erica Wagner, The Times

'A box of treasures'LA Times'

'Funny, life affirming, brilliant'Esquire

Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977. He is the author of Everything is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book award; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is now a major film starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock; and Eating Animals. He is also the editor of A Convergence of Birds. ...Continua Nascondi

Herschel I thought Herschel must escape how can he escape he must run now run into the darkens perhaps he has already run perhaps he heard the tank and ran but when we arrived at the synagogue I saw Herschel and he saw me and we stood next to each otHerschel I thought Herschel must escape how can he escape he must run now run into the darkens perhaps he has already run perhaps he heard the tank and ran but when we arrived at the synagogue I saw Herschel and he saw me and we stood next to each other because that is what friends do in the presence of evil or love....Continua Nascondi

“Tell me more,” I said.
“More?”
“Herschel.”
“It was as if he was in our family”
“Tell me what happened. What happened to him?”
“To him? To him and me. It happened to everybody, do not make any mistakes. Just because I was not a Jew, it does not mean“Tell me more,” I said.
“More?”
“Herschel.”
“It was as if he was in our family”
“Tell me what happened. What happened to him?”
“To him? To him and me. It happened to everybody, do not make any mistakes. Just because I was not a Jew, it does not mean that it did not happen to me.”
“What is it?”
“You had to choose, and hope to choose the smaller evil.”
“You had to choose,” I told Jonathan, “and hope to choose the smaller evil.”
“And I chose”.
“And he chose”.
“He chose what?”
“What did you choose?”
“When they captured our town-“
“Kolki?”
“Yes, but do not tell him. There is no reason to tell him.”
“We could go in the morning.”
“No.”
“Perhaps it would be a good thing.”
“No.”
(You have ghosts?)
(Of course I have ghosts.)
(What are your ghosts like?)
(They are on the inside of the lids of my eyes.)
(This is also where my ghosts reside.)
(You have ghosts?)
(Of course I have ghosts.)
(But you are a child.)
(I am not a child.)
(But you have not known love.)
“You could reveal it to us,” I said. “You could take us to where you once lived, and where his grandmother once lived.”
“There is no purpose,” he said. “Those people signify nothing to me.”
“His grandmother.”
“I do not want to know her name.”
“There is no purpose to return to the town that he came from,” I told Jonathan. “It means nothing to him.”
“Why did he leave?”
“Why did you leave?”
“Because I did not want your father to grow up so close to death. I did not want him to know of it, and live with it. This is why I never informed him of what occurred. I wanted so much for him to live good life, without death and without choices and without shame. But I was not a good father, I must inform you. I was the worst father. I desired to remove him from everything that was bad, but instead I gave him badness upon badness. A father is always responsible for how his son is. You must understand.”
“I am not understanding. I am not understanding any of this. I do not understand that you are from Kolki, and why I never knew. I do not understand why you came on this voyage if you know how close we would be. I do not understand what are your ghosts. I do not understand how a picture of you was in Augustine’s box.”
(… And I asked him, What happened? He returned the photograph to the box, you will remember, and he told us the story. Exactly like that. He placed the photograph in the box and he told it to us. He did not once avoid our eyes, and he did not once put his hands under the table. I murdered Herschel, he said. Or what I did was as good as murdering him. …)...Continua Nascondi